Internet Rant of the Whenever: TIME CUBE

Stupid Educators know of the Truth I speak and know that it will indict them as the most evil bastards on the Earth. Only a dumb student can be educated - as in brainwashed and indoctrinated. Time Cube debate denial is educator evil.

Monday, May 15, 2006

If Only Those Meddling Voters Weren't In The Way

I got involved in politics largely because, after working in downtown San Jose for several years, I saw example after example of the astounding wastefulness of the San Jose Redevelopment Agency and blatant corruption in the San Jose City Council. I've come to the conclusion that San Jose is simply too big -- it's like a big honey jar for ambitious politicians.

According to a Mercury New poll asking the voters of San Jose if they favor spending public money to bring an (unspecified) Major League Baseball team to San Jose, the voters are strongly opposed:

Surely, this strong disapproval for the plan must influence Mayor Gonzales thinking on the subject. Well, not exactly:

"Any city where you have to tell the baseball team owner or the basketball team owner or you-name-it owner that they have to go to the voters, you're going to be bypassed,'' Gonzales said. ``The requirement that you have the voters approve any sort of public involvement in a facility is a tremendous hurdle for team owners.''

Silly voters. Don't they know that their job is too pay their taxes, shut up, and get out of the way of more visionary minds.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Fantastical Facts About Illegal Immigrants

A list of ten scary "facts" about illegal immigrants has been making its way around the blogosphere. For example, Scary Fact #2 claims that "95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens." Scary indeed, and, apparently, completely made up.

The list left the staff at the Los Angeles Times scratching their heads, since they are the purported source of the facts, yet have been unable to find any Times articles backing up any of the claims. The list of scary factoids is dissected in detail on their new "immigration" blog:

Monday, May 01, 2006

Arturo Shrugged

I sincerely hope that this Monday's labor strike by illegal laborers is a big success. I hope it effectively demonstrates the huge contribution they make to our economy.

My prediction for tomorrow, though, is that the majority of illegal laborers will show up for work as usual. It's just too big a risk for many of them not to do so. They need the income with a level of need that most American citizens will never experience nor relate to.

What would happen? What would this county, with about 100,000 undocumented immigrants -- one out of every 18 residents -- look like? Would the fallout gum up the local economy as stores closed and construction sites shut down? Would tech workers call in sick because their nannies didn't show? Would luncheons and banquets that grease our social skids be canceled as kitchen staffs went missing?

There are few political issues that I take as personally as the need for decent treatment of Latin American laborers. I'm not Hispanic, but my parents, after losing their farm in Nebraska, did a lot of the same jobs that are now typically done by Hispanic immigrants. My father was a gardener and my mother a cafeteria worker. After their day jobs were done, I helped out with our family janitorial business at night.

My parent's story could be taken as an example of American citizens willing to do the kind of jobs that are now taken by illegal immigrants. Not really. Our economic circumstances were not typical of the American families in the area where we lived.

In my experience, there are few unemployed Americans willing to do the shitty jobs that illegal immigrants are willing to do. Later on, when my dad started his own housepainting business, there were only two groups of people in our area willing to take on the short-term jobs we often needed assistance with: illegal immigrants or surfer dudes. The former were uniformly hard-working, honest, reliable, and pleasant. The latter usually didn't show up -- either the waves were totally awesome, or they were too hung over.

Human dignity and rights are not just for people who happen to have been born on the lucky side of the border. Everyone should have the opportunity to seek out work to support their families. I couldn't care less whether someone who is willing to work hard is here legally or not. We should be making it easier for Latin American laborers to come here legally, not moving towards classifying them as felons.